Lessons from Shopify 2.0 Upgrade, New Theme
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I’ve addressed Beardbrand’s know-how stack through the years. I’ve finished that to hopefully assist different retailers with their decision-making and to focus on good and dangerous decisions we’ve made alongside the way in which.
Beardbrand has been on Shopify since our launch in 2013. We began with a free Shopify theme. In 2014 we constructed a completely customized model, and in 2020 we switched to a premium theme. Late final yr, we determined emigrate to Shopify’s 2.0 platform with a brand new paid theme to enrich it.
Jenny Durre managed that whole course of. She is Beardbrand’s in-house designer, marketer, and challenge supervisor. I just lately requested her to recap her work of selecting the brand new theme, designing its structure, migrating the content material, and in the end taking the brand new website reside. That whole audio dialog is embedded under. The transcript is condensed and edited for readability.
Eric Bandholz: We simply launched the fourth model of Beardbrand.com.
Jenny Durre: It’s been an thrilling course of. We upgraded to Shopify 2.0 utilizing a premium template. We did numerous analysis. Shopify has free 2.0 templates, however they didn’t meet what we wanted for personalization.
It might appear to be minor adjustments, however the new site is drastically completely different than the earlier model.
I dove into reviewing templates final November. I made a spreadsheet to assist us slender it down. I wished to drag in the important thing options in 2.0. Lots of the 2.0 themes had been just lately launched on the time. We couldn’t discover many critiques. We went with a comparatively new theme, known as Break up. The chance of recent themes is you don’t know precisely how they are going to work or what bugs you would possibly encounter.
Our high standards for selecting a theme was site speed. We’re nonetheless engaged on getting faster. Past velocity, we sought a superior consumer expertise and a transparent and concise structure.
Our earlier theme had many layers when it comes to our navigation and collections. We tried to simplify the steps for guests so as to add merchandise to the cart and discover the suitable info with out having to click on by a number of pages.
Your complete course of took about six months. We selected Break up after which personalized it. I work remotely, however all of us collaborated — you, me, and the Beardbrand workers. Launching a brand new website is far more than design. It’s reviewing, testing, and tweaking.
Bandholz: What do you imply by a “clear and concise structure”?
Durre: The earlier theme, Status, had numerous navigation choices. Break up is extra streamlined, specializing in product varieties. I personalized the product pages to make them extra visually pleasing.
We’ve got an awesome copywriter, an awesome photographer, and good content material. We labored on breaking issues up into digestible items that inform the Beardbrand story. Now that we’re narrowing our choices, it’s a lot simpler to concentrate on major merchandise and supply useful info and tutorials.
We examined imagery on the house web page, but it surely didn’t carry out higher than textual content. Now we’re implementing extra of a narrative. The above-the-fold dwelling web page part tells who we’re. Beneath that we dive into constructing product bundles, the place clients should buy three merchandise and get one free, for instance. We’ve shifted to letting clients construct their very own bundles versus having pre-built kits. It’s extra interactive and easier to navigate.
Moreover, we constructed a “Store” touchdown web page with sections and classes. Prospects can routinely add merchandise to the cart or create a bundle on that web page.
Bandholz: Discuss in regards to the navigation and the customization course of.
Durre: The navigation is extra centered now. It’s simpler for purchasers to make selections. Our product pages include all of the important data with out the litter. Many manufacturers have in depth navigation choices on product pages. I desire having all the things on a single structure.
Venture administration was important. It took some time to type out what we wanted and what to convey over from the earlier model. I went app by app. After I was not sure if an app would translate to a 2.0 theme, I might speak on to Shopify or search for third-party assets.
Integrating Recharge, the subscription administration app, was a problem. Recharge has just lately merged its checkout to be a part of Shopify’s cart. Earlier than it was separate. We’ve got it on the primary checkout now. It’s extra distinguished. Prospects can simply swap their merchandise within the cart to a subscription.
I hope to create a web page that talks about the advantages of subscriptions and the way to decide on the suitable frequency.
Bandholz: The place can individuals observe you?
Durre: My Instagram is @woodandshadow and I’m on LinkedIn.
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